1. Field:
The field of the invention is nesting domiciles for wild bees for the propagation of such bees for pollination of plants such as alfalfa.
2. Prior Art:
At least one species of wild bee, (megachile rotundata fabricius), commonly known as the alfalfa leaf-cutter bee, is of considerable economic importance in the northwest United States and Canada, because it, unlike the familiar honey bee, efficiently pollinates alfalfa. The leaf-cutter bees are "solitary", in that they build individual nests and do not cooperate in the gathering and storing of food. However, they are gregarious, and do not resist nesting closely together. Pre-existing holes, such as cells of abandoned wasp nests and bug burrows in wood, are commonly used for nesting bores, in which they construct several nesting cells end to end. Artificial domiciles with many nesting burrows can therefore provide for the propagation of sufficient leaf-cutter bees for thorough pollination of adjacent alfalfa, especially since these bees gather nectar only near their nesting site, whereas honey bees forage miles from their hives. The more primitive previous bee-nesting devices have simulated insect burrows by providing monolithic wooden blocks with drilled, closely spaced bores. More advanced devices utilized wooden laminations held together mechanically, the nesting bores being surface grooves in the individual laminations. They may be disassembled for inspection of the rows of bee-hatching cells for disease, fungus or insect attack. Barber, U.S. Pat. No. 3,936,894, has laminations with surface grooves, closed by the ungrooved surface of the adjacent lamination. A central bore accepts a bolt which is used with end plates to hold the laminated assembly together. Dority, U.S. Pat. No. 3,267,497, comprises a series of wooden blocks with aligned bores, again held together by bolts and nuts. Another similar bank of grooved blocks is disclosed in Barnes Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 3,191,199, having matching semicircular grooves in the adjacent bores of the laminations, providing circular nesting bores. Similar laminated structures may be made of plastic, as disclosed in Publication 1495, 1973 entitled "Alfalfa Leaf-cutter Bees for Pollinating the Alfalfa in Western Canada", and the advertising sheet "The Bords and the Bees", both accompanying this application. The grooved wood or plastic constructions are unnecessarily expensive to construct and the wood often swells from moisture, closing the nesting bores to smaller unacceptable sizes. Both are unnecessarily prone to mold growth from moisture accumulation. The wooden versions are unnecessarily heavy, and require tools for assembly and disassembly. Stripping of the individual cells from the essentially rigid laminations, for bulk shipment or for loose cell management, often necessitates the use of complicated and expensive machinery. These current bee domiciles are difficult to clean and disinfect before reuse, and are sufficiently expensive to make their discard a matter of economic concern.